


Breaking, Breaking, Broken?

by Darth_Videtur



Series: Master and Apprentice [2]
Category: Star Wars, Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rise of Empire Era - All Media Types
Genre: AU - Because of Slash, Dubcon/Noncon, Early Sith Training, M/M, One-Sided Attraction, Sith Aren't Nice, Sith Shenanigans, Slash, What Can You Expect, explicit slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-01
Updated: 2016-01-19
Packaged: 2018-04-29 07:38:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 7
Words: 15,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5120336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darth_Videtur/pseuds/Darth_Videtur
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two years into Sidious' apprenticeship, Plagueis decides he's getting complacent. Or maybe Plagueis is just bored.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Français available: [Breaking, Breaking, Broken? [TRADUCTION]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6099928) by [Isa_Faradien](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Isa_Faradien/pseuds/Isa_Faradien)
  * Translation into 中文 available: [[Translation]Breaking, Breaking, Broken? 崩，崩，溃？](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8009212) by [isaakfvkampfer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/isaakfvkampfer/pseuds/isaakfvkampfer)



Plagueis watched his young apprentice through half-lidded eyes, turning the sip of sweet wine over on his tongue. He swallowed slowly, satisfied with the year and the make from one of the Grans’ finest underground vineyards. His gaze dropped to the cup in his hand, the contents idly swirling about in a turbulent vortex. The tumbling liquid matched the faint disturbance in the Force as the Dark Side teased along the buzzing nerves of his large and capable mind. 

The Dark Side and alcohol: a lovely, heady, deadly combination, but he had no reason to fear it at the moment, not here in the labyrinth spread of his volcanic respite. Aborah’s limitless tunnels of ancient, hardened lava stretched out for miles, twisting and turning, rising and falling over each other in a jumble that would confuse any would-be trespasser. A myriad number of traps and deadly surprises also awaited any fool who sought to enter his domain. Plagueis’ personal quarters lay near the most important of his laboratory rooms, near the heart of his experimental landscape of test tubes and ancient tomes.

One of those tomes now resided in the slender, pale hands of his apprentice, the young human Palpatine of Naboo. Of course, he now possessed another name, a deeper name. The fledgling Darth Sidious stood on the far side of the small library, head lowered in concentration upon his reading, wavy red hair brushed back from his narrow face, eyes fixed on the tantalizing secrets of the Sith Order. How he loved those old books, Plagueis felt a grin tug at the corner of his thin mouth. How desperately he sought out the arcane knowledge, and how easily Plagueis was able to frustrate him. To deny him. 

Now nineteen standard years of age, Sidious had spent two years under his tutelage being shaped and molded into a deadly weapon, a powerhouse of intelligence and guile. He still carried himself with an easy grace, much as he had when Plagueis first encountered him on Naboo, but a new caution belied his every movement, a deviance that threatened to truly impress the older Sith Lord. 

Perhaps the alcohol addled his thoughts, but they carried Plagueis in a new and not entirely unpleasant direction as he lounged deeper into his chair and nursed the cup of wine. If not for his overly prominent nose, Sidious was fair to look upon, for a human. His body was sleek and lithe and well-proportioned, though Plagueis knew that underneath the dark robes the pale skin was marked with a dozen or more lightsaber burns, inflicted during the week’s trainings. The thought satisfied him, that his chosen apprentice appeared so frail and yet defied the expectations of all and thrived in the face of death. 

Insidious. The name truly fit him. 

Plagueis allowed his eyes to peruse up his apprentice’s slim form, to trail approvingly over the gentle arch of his neck as he hovered over the book, unaware of his master’s scrutiny. Plagueis dropped into the lush presence of the Dark Side as he watched, and suddenly the air clarified and the mists of power and purpose blurred together in endless eddies and currents. In the Force, Palpatine had always fascinated the Muun, even when his natural shields made him impossible to detect. Somehow, Plagueis had always known that the Naboo native would be important, critical to his plans and the plans of all the Sith who came before in the wide galaxy. 

Now that the natural shields had tumbled down, first ripped apart by Palpatine’s own rage upon that fateful starship flight, and then torn repeatedly and patched together by Plagueis himself, Sidious’ presence threatened to both suffocate and succor him. Plagueis had helped him restore his protection, but not from the Sith Lord. He left subtle gaps in the young man’s training that revealed his power only to him. One did not nurture a monster without fail-safes, at least not until Sidious reached parity and could set aside the Rule of Two. 

He studied Sidious through the Force. There was no true description; the human defied simple words. Plagueis could only liken him to a black hole in the deepest region of dark space, devouring any unfortunate object that passed too close. Fire flickered around the edges, but the internal portions glowed with the glacial indifference of ice. Plagueis could feel his presence but not his thoughts, unless he pushed the issue. 

Pushing for his thoughts was ultimately a mistake, Plagueis believed. In time, the truth would come out anyway, and the young Sith Lord required such a cautious taming. High-spirited he was, and sensitive to any slight. He worked silently and without complaint, and he bore his wounds with inscrutable silence, but his occasional glower gave his darker emotions away. He held grudges with single-minded devotion, and he stalked those who wronged him with frightening efficiency. 

Perfection, Plagueis mused, but still without the experience to make him invulnerable to outside threats. So he protected his young apprentice at the same time that he beat him into the ground and denied him all comfort and ease. He taught him and withheld from him. He rebuked and enticed. Such was the role of the Sith Master, the one who would bring about the realization of the Grand Plan at last. 

The Muun had many creations to his name, but this was perhaps his finest. No. He knew it to be so. Never before and never again would the galaxy experience the likes of this creature. The Dark Side of the Force surrounded him like no other, as though he were its sole anointed representative. Sometimes, in his darkest moments before brushing the doubt away, Plagueis imagined that he was a moth drawn to the human's deadly flame. 

He was certainly drawn now, he realized, though something both more and less than the Force drew him. Long limbs crossed at the ankle and leaning back, he studied the human’s sharp jawline and high cheekbones, the sunken eye sockets, one mottled with the colorful remnants of a deep bruise. When they sparred, he spared no effort to thrash the young man. As a result, Sidious often sported evidence of his training, but he had grown to appreciate the pain as a teacher, as a motivator. 

Plagueis remembered the orphan shivering on the slopes of Mygeeto, envisioned the moment he had torn open the thin enviro-suit, watching Sidious slide shuddering to the ice before crawling after him, too stubborn to die. Over the last two years, he had exposed Sidious’ darkest secrets, his most disabling fears, his most dangerous shortcomings. Yet somehow, the young apprentice still held himself in silent repose, never completely undone by his Master. 

Always, those pale blue eyes burned with an unknown fire. For Plagueis, the consummate scientist, the unknown was a challenge to be sought out, confronted, and solved. Palpatine offered no easy solution, but Plagueis remained undeterred in his pursuit of a thesis. Now, he wondered at a new thought, a thought that he had always previously suppressed. 

Perhaps the alcohol emboldened him. He enjoyed the natural effects, from time to time. This was one of those times. “Is your academic curiosity never satisfied, Apprentice?” he drawled softly, drawing up his rangy form to hover along the edge of his chair. 

In the broken silence, Sidious lifted his head from his reading and fixed his eyes on his master across the room. “I only wish to learn, Master,” he replied, voice soft as veda cloth. His words were a common response, applied when he sought to appease Plagueis’ impatience with his obsession over the arcane. 

“And what deep knowledge have you gained presently?” Plagueis rumbled, swallowing the last strains of the biting liquid in his glass.

Sidious glanced at the wine bottle on the small table, then his eyes flicked back to the Muun, although Plagueis sensed his clear disapproval. “The alchemist in this series claims to be able to render inert most of the common poisons, Master. I believe this may be quite useful to us in the future.” 

“It may,” Plagueis allowed, “and then again it may not. Use caution when dealing with Sith sorcery, Sidious. A living Sith Master is of much more use than a dead and dusty manuscript. We learn from Master to Apprentice; this is the true way of the Sith.”

“Of course, Master,” Sidious slowly let the book slide closed, let it slip from his hand onto the small surface of the reading desk. Plagueis watched his thin fingers trail lovingly, reluctantly over the thick binding, and he fought a strange and ludicrous sense of jealousy. Sidious met his eyes and offered a half bow. “You have taught me much, my Master. I am indebted.” 

Plagueis narrowed his eyes as he drank in the young man’s power. His Force presence vibrated with life and death and power, so much potential power. The small brain buzzed with so many different schemes and infinite self-interest. Sidious was alive like no other. His midi-chlorians called to Plagueis with a sweet siren's seduction, to his hyper-awareness of the subtle nature of the miniscule transmitters. 

He suddenly wanted to call back, laying aside the empty cup and sitting straighter in his seat. “You speak truthfully, Apprentice, but I can still teach you more. Far more.” He wondered if the arrogant Sith would… “Come here,” he uttered softly, feeling his voice become hoarse with rough desire.

To be continued...


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Plagueis enjoys lingering over his anticipation for what he has earned. He always has.

Sidious froze. His pale eyes bloomed wide with uncertainty for the first time in weeks, and he took a cautious half-step backwards. Plagueis scowled at his defiance and let his disapproval reverberate through the Force. “I’ll not say it again,” he purred. 

Sidious swallowed and took a small step forward, then another, until he was padding silently across the small room to stand a meter before his master, eyes studiously avoiding the Muun’s sharp gaze. He had long ago learned not to ask trivial questions, and Plagueis was pleased with his silence. “Remove your tunic, Apprentice.” 

His expression a silent inquiry, Sidious gracefully shrugged off his cloak and slipped his long shirt over his head and off, gripping it tightly in his left hand as he waited for further instructions. Plagueis took a long moment to soak in the sight, admiring the slick gleam of tight muscles, corded efficiently across his long arms and narrow chest. Palpatine was not heavily built, but he was a natural scrapper with not a spare bit of fat on his frame. 

Plagueis noted an angry red welt across one shoulder, and he inquired softly, “Have you failed to attend to your wounds, Darth Sidious? I’ve taught you better than that.” 

Sidious shook his head once, sharply. “No, Master, I’ve done as you’ve instructed. It is healing.”

“Humans,” Plagueis muttered. “Such a fragile being you are, Apprentice.” He observed Sidious’ face flush with repressed indignation, and the Sith Master waved his elongated hand in dismissal. “Through no fault of your own, of course. You are only human.” 

“As you say, Master.” His teeth gritted under his thinly pressed lips. 

“I feel your anger,” Plagueis told him. “But I still have much to teach. Control your mind.” 

Instantly the anger in the Force dissipated. 

Plagueis was impressed. More and more, Palpatine was coming to wield incredible power over himself. Soon his guile would be unmatched by any other. His apprentice’s closed expression called to the Muun, excited him in a horribly physical way. He wanted to break that barrier, to force the submission of that exquisite power, and now he suspected that he knew how. 

“Kneel before me,” Plagueis commanded, and the apprentice immediately obeyed, dropping to one knee and lowering his head in deference. Plagueis reached out and pressed a large hand into the thick red hair, curling it down and under to the human’s sharp chin. He pressed a thumb against the faint cleft, tilted Sidious’ head up to meet his eyes. The young human licked nervously at his dry lips. 

“What would you have me learn, Master?” he asked. 

Plagueis sent a surge of his desire into the Force as he leaned forward to place his gash of a mouth near his apprentice’s ear. “I would have you learn that control is often only an illusion.” He trailed his hand down from the human’s jaw to encircle the slender throat, compressing with just a whisper of power, watching the faint resentment gleam in the pale eyes. “I would have you learn that defiance leads merely to more pain.” 

He slid his hand down and over the fragile collarbone, to the smooth muscles of the young man’s chest. “I would have you learn that bending can be more beneficial than breaking, but that breaking is nearly always the way of the Sith.” 

His unspoken promise sent a barely perceptible shiver through the thin body. “I know about breaking, Master,” Sidious whispered. “I’ve learned.” His presence in the Force sang of death, of pain, of agony and darkness without end. 

“And yet, you don’t,” Plagueis whispered back. “You’ve been broken, my apprentice, but not in every way. Not yet.” And he sent thoughts of pleasure, unimaginable lusts, complete domination straight into the dark abyss. 

Sidious shuddered under the onslaught, and his apprehension became tangible in the small chamber. Plagueis drew it to himself with a soft sigh, felt his spare body responding under the thick robes. He traced his hands over the trembling shoulders and murmured, “You’ve been beaten, and broken, and destroyed, Sidious. But you’ve never been taken.” 

Sidious’ eyes, which had closed against the mental assault, now opened wide with alarm. The Force sang with danger. Plagueis pulled the Dark Side to himself, in case the youth decided to act rashly. He lifted both hands to the human’s jawline and leaned in until their faces were mere centimeters apart. He could feel the younger Sith’s breath coming in short gusts, and he smiled. 

“I am going to take you, Palpatine.” 

He used the name deliberately. The Sith-in-training slid away and for one paralyzed moment only the stricken young noble remained, helplessly fixed in placed by the will of his master. Plagueis smiled. 

“I’m going to take you until you break. In every way,” he promised, voice dropping low and husky with his intent, and before Palpatine had a chance to react, he closed the distance and trapped the thin lips under his own. Palpatine seized up, becoming completely still with disgust. Then he was pulling back with a low growl. 

Plagueis sensed his presence in the Force building, and he chuckled, catching Sidious’ lip between his teeth and biting down. His apprentice yelped and thrust up his hands against the Muun’s lanky shoulders, struggling to push him away, but Plagueis could not be moved. He pressed the attack, forcing the smaller mouth open and pushing inside with his tongue. 

Sidious gagged, and Plagueis hooked his long arms around the lean torso, pulling him up against his seated form and into his locked embrace. The human’s lean legs trembled against his own as he tried to find leverage, but the Muun’s grip was a vise. The Dark Side swelled in the apprentice as he summoned it, and a sudden Force push launched him backward and away. 

Sidious landed on his back, chest heaving with his exertion. Blood trickled from his torn lip, hate steeped his eyes in a golden glaze. Unaffected, Plagueis stood from his chair and unfolded to his full height. “In order to become greater than you can ever imagine, you must become lower than you ever thought. You are but the learner,” he told Sidious without mercy. “And I am the Master. Your wisdom lies in submission to that greater than yourself.” 

Sidious said nothing, only shook his head. 

Displeased, Plagueis stretched out his hand and unleashed a small burst of Force Lightning. It crackled across his apprentice like a dry fire, the slender body arching back in silent agony. Palpatine never cried out when struck with the manifestation of the Dark Side, but as the arcs of electricity receded, he panted for breath. 

“Need I repeat that particular lesson?” Plagueis growled. Sidious bowed his head. “Then stand up, Apprentice.” 

He stood slowly, cautiously, as though his bones might break, and Plagueis reached out and caught him close, capturing and plundering the human’s mouth once again. This time, Sidious remained passive under his ministrations, lips pliant under the Muun’s guidance, head tilting up into the kiss and showing his throat in a clear display of submission. 

Plagueis felt the thrill in the Dark Side. It was as though the Force Itself submitted to him. The feeling was heady, emotional, physical. He pressed his length against the smaller body and touched the Dark Side to the other’s frantic mind, being rewarded with a soft shudder and gasp. 

In that moment, he wanted nothing more than to possess this human utterly. To leave him panting and wasted and ravaged. He reached down between them and seized the ties to Palpatine’s trousers, tugging so hard that Sidious’ body jerked with his efforts. Finally the ties snapped, and he roughly pushed at the thick cloth until it puddled at his apprentice’s boots.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Darth Plagueis does his best to break his apprentice, but can he truly hope to succeed?

Sidious reacted again when he realized that he stood open to Plagueis’ hungry gaze. He tried to turn away, but Plagueis caught him by the arm and spun him around, pressing his long clothed frame to the human’s spine, trapping one arm in the small of his back and twisting until Sidious hissed with the pain and stilled.

They stood together in a long silence while Palpatine shook in his grasp and Plagueis soaked in the pure hatred that surrounded his apprentice. “Good,” he growled mockingly against the human’s ear, evoking a shiver and soft, wordless protest. “Use your aggressive emotions, channel them into your illusion of control.” 

Sidious groaned when the Muun’s lips descended against the side of his neck, and his head dropped back limply against Plagueis’ shoulder. The Dark Lord ghosted his free hand down over the human’s bare left hip, feeling him jerk in nervous anticipation. “Flighty little thing, aren’t you?” he taunted softly. “Are all humans so high-strung?” 

“I don’t…don’t know, Master,” Sidious managed to say, but his words choked away when the Muun’s large hand closed over his shaft and offered one rough pull. “M-master!” 

Plagueis decided to employ his favorite technique, Dun Moch. He leaned closer to Palpatine’s ear and hissed, “You want this, don’t you? You want to submit, to be taken. You like it rough… Are you a Sith Lord or a Sith slave?”

Sidious snarled and tried to shove away his hand to fight, but Plagueis abruptly shifted positions, hooking his hand around the human’s legs and bodily carrying him to the floor, pushing him onto his back. The impact drove the breath and a small cry from his apprentice, the Sith Master hovering over him and glaring down at his figure with possessive pride. Then Plagueis was kneeling, pulling his legs apart and tugging him closer across the floor. Sidious tried to kick, but Plagueis caught the hard boot and pinned it to the floor with his own weight. 

“Stop!” the human snapped. 

Plagueis laughed. “You think you can stop me?” He traced long fingers up the inside of Sidious’ trapped right thigh. The apprentice writhed under the master’s grip but could not break free. The fingers ghosted higher until they brushed against the sensitive flesh, wrapping smoothly around the twitching column. Plagueis pondered and then decided, trickling a touch of Force Lightning into his fingers, and the young human arched in silent agony beneath him, lips parting in a stuttering inhale.

Exquisite, simply magnificent. The Dark Side trembled with violent rage. Sprung from the Force itself… Plagueis drank it in, and with his other large hand he caught the claws that came for his eyes and forced them to the floor above them both, leaning over Sidious and hissing into the small ear, “You are a fount of power, Apprentice. Since the day I met you, I knew you would be great, but you still can’t control yourself. You react and you fight, when your true nature is to observe and slither and deceive. Use who you are.”

Sharp teeth flashed and caught him across his long nose. Plagueis snarled and released his hands and gripped Palpatine’s throat, squeezing so tightly that his young apprentice began to wheeze for air. Below, he still gripped him mercilessly, combing both pain and pleasure into a wheeling, intoxicating liquor that glazed their eyes into glowing sparks of amber. “The Dark Side brings you to the edge of life itself, Sidious,” Plagueis smiled. “When it curls within you, you will think that you will die. Most do. The only way to survive is to take it into yourself, to control it before it destroys you.” 

Still restricting Palpatine’s airflow, weakening him, Plagueis drifted down past his chest, licking at the sparse ginger hairs that trailed down his center. Sidious let out a strangled gasp and squirmed madly under his grip when the Muun replaced his lower hand with his mouth. Plagueis felt him struggling in the Force, attempting to hold back his own pleasure, loathing and disgust permeating every fiber of his being. Plagueis grinned and pressed his tongue to the head, and he was rewarded with a desperate buck of the thin hips, the wiry thighs shaking under his weight. 

He waited until Sidious hardened completely under him before stopping and drawing away. A low keening tore from his apprentice’s parted lips. He was close to breaking, the Sith Master realized. Slowly releasing the slender and bruised throat, he slid the hand down the human’s shivering side and pushed the legs further apart, brushing up against his final barrier with one gently probing finger. So vulnerable, so fresh and unspoiled… He would be the first to claim this prize.

Sidious ground his teeth and tried to shift away and close his legs, but Plagueis used the Force to hold him in place, teasing small circles around his entrance and making him shudder involuntarily. Someday perhaps, Palpatine would be strong enough to force him away. He would take immense pride in that day. 

“For two years you have strived to make yourself attractive to the darkness, my Apprentice, and perhaps you are succeeding. But if you are not strong enough, the Dark Side will take you,” he whispered, sliding one long finger into his apprentice and feeling Sidious’ whole body go rigid with shock. “If you do not seduce it and force it to your will, then it will surely break you.” 

He pushed further in, and Sidious’ eyes squeezed tightly shut and his hips struggled to escape the grip of the Force and a soft, barely audible “no…” slid from him. His manicured nails dug into the flooring, fingers hooking into talons. Plagueis soaked in the anger and arousal that crept over him in a slick of infinite darkness. 

“No to what, Sidious? Do you attempt to deny me, or the Force? You’ll accomplish neither today,” Plagueis told him, curling the hidden finger forward with a soft and deadly, “Answer me.” 

“I deny… deny – ah – !” A second finger joined the first, injecting a hitch into his harsh breathing. “I deny only weakness, my Master,” Sidious panted openly now, his core hard and aching, his member stiff with the need that he was desperately attempting to restrain. “The Dark Side will not break me… oh… only weakness can break me. I am not…”

“Not weak?” Plagueis scoffed. He stilled his hand. “Maybe someday you won’t be. But look at you now, a pitiable state of nerves and fear. This is breaking you. This is weakness, what you are doing.” 

He slid his fingers from Sidious’ tight orifice and began loosening the belt at his own waist. The younger Sith’s yellowed eyes widened. “Master, Muuns are not compatible with humans. You are far too…”

“Then is this when you break?” Plagueis challenged sharply as he pulled the narrow hips up to his own. More than ready, his member pressed against Sidious’ small opening, but he waited for a reply. He wanted to know. 

Sidious said nothing, but his gaze narrowed and flamed with a heat that held nothing sexual, only the promise of terrible, terrible death. So be it. Plagueis thrust forward abruptly, sinking himself in to the hilt, and Sidious cried out, a high-pitched, frightening sound that reverberated in the Force and threatened to drown him in a dark sea of helpless fury. Something tore in the impaled apprentice, and something greater in the Force. Plagueis held himself still for an infinite moment in time. Eddies of the Dark Side swirled through his thoughts: past, present, future. Palpatine was an untouched focal point of the Force; Plagueis sighed with undisguised delight. 

The human’s channel was tight, hot, deliciously satisfying, and he withdrew from the searing heat reluctantly before plunging in again. Streaks of blood eased the passage, and they moved together in the ageless rhythm, awkwardly at first and then more smoothly. Sidious moaned and bit at his lip, drawing more of the crimson fluid down and over his chin. 

Plagueis was struck by a thought as he drove himself mercilessly into his apprentice. Would Palpatine’s midi-chlorians respond to him even now? Did the intimacies of intercourse strengthen their connection in the Dark Side? He tested gently, reaching out with the Force and calling to the small Force transmitters, feeling Sidious’ presence surge around him and the fledgling Sith’s Force signature flare brightly across his conscious awareness. 

Pain. Annihilation. The galaxy reeled in the blinding light of a motionless explosion, and Plagueis himself quailed back as something dark and endless and unfathomable seeped against his mortal soul, staining even him. The Sith Master pulled his own consciousness back in cautious awareness. It was as he had always expected; his apprentice was extraordinary. What lurked beneath the surface of that human front was nothing human at all. Much more, and much less. Elemental. Primal.

The power he felt in that moment as a Sith Lord sent him tumbling over the edge of control, and he came hard inside his young apprentice. Sidious did not, lying limply beneath his master and staring up with shuttered eyes. 

Pale eyes that smoked with hate. Unbroken and undying hate. 

Plagueis thought to himself, he would understand one day why this was necessary.


	4. Risking Pleasure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Plagueis seeks to continue his apprentice's training and achieve what he wants, but Sidious's stubbornness rivals the dark master's.

For days afterward, Sidious moved with a stiffness that brought pleasure to Plagueis each time he saw him. He had reached out to the midi-chlorians of his battered apprentice and tasked them to repair the essential internal damage, but he wanted the human to have a reminder for a time, that no matter what, his fate lay in the hands of his Master, the Master of the Dark Side. He wanted Sidious to know that Plagueis could have him whenever he chose. 

Today was one of those times. Eight days had passed since the confrontation in his study, and Sidious no longer blushed each time they spoke. He had pushed himself into his combat training and political studies with intensity like never before, becoming absolutely rabid in his fighting style. His brutality pleased Plagueis to no end. The black hole of indifference teetered on the edge of self-control. 

But every time he thought the young human might fall, the calculating coldness returned, the effortless self-confidence. So today Plagueis sought him out, finding him deep within the lower levels of his laboratory studying the results of midi-chlorian manipulation of a young mutant dewback calf. Plagueis bypassed any pretenses as he strode into the room, his intentions crystal clear in the Force. Sidious looked up, startled by the speed with which his master approached. Almost as instantly, he pulled an expression of complete indifference across his narrow face.

Fixated on removing that control, Plagueis reached out and caught the lapels of his apprentice’s robes and slammed him up against the cold stone wall of the laboratory. The dewback calf lowed in distress as it perceived a dark hunger enter the room. Sidious looked up at him from under lowered lashes, and a faint smirk played at the edges of his thin lips. “Master?” he asked, but it took the form of a soft purring, like a wild and deadly tusk-cat that toyed with its prey.

Plagueis disliked the effect, and he wiped it away with a harsh kiss, sucking at the human’s mouth and making him gasp for air. Sidious’ cool veneer cracked in the Force, revealing the shame and hatred that still lingered from before. In that moment, Plagueis knew what he wanted. 

He wanted Sidious out of control, groaning his name, coming hard because of his Master. His imagination furnished a delightful vision, and he growled against the other’s mouth. His large hands lifted the human’s robes and pushed the undergarments roughly aside. He wrapped his fingers around the soft shaft, twisting them and making Sidious gasp in painful pleasure. 

“Such a good little apprentice,” he hissed softly, choosing his words with vicious accuracy to wound. “Always available. Tell me, Apprentice, did you ever imagine that this would be part of your training?”

Sidious stared back through slitted eyes. “Not quite, Master…” 

Plagueis wanted to push him to his limits, to spark that dreadful, terrible, wonderful hatred like before, so he taunted him softly, “Perhaps while you are with me, before you return to the Legislative program, I should simply deny you clothing of any sort. You know, I might like the idea of you naked at any moment, mine for the taking whenever I wish, a true servant of the Dark Side…” 

Sidious’ breath had quickened, and he began to say something before he changed his mind and stopped. “Aborah is a bit cold for that,” he said instead with a frozen smile. 

“Oh, you are cold enough for both of us, Apprentice,” Plagueis reached out and pulled the robes off and away from the human’s shoulders. “But somewhere under all these layers, I suspect a fire burns that may consume the galaxy. I intend to find out.” 

“You’re welcome to try, Master,” Palpatine whispered, holding his gaze steadily, and Plagueis was surprised by the sudden open invitation in his apprentice’s eyes. The suggestion touched his mind, and he seized the robes and tore them roughly down the human’s arms until Sidious stood splayed against the cold wall, his pale and slender form completely exposed to Plagueis’ hungry perusal. 

He was not trying to run or fight, and Plagueis backed away. Curious now, his analytical mind taking over, he moved toward the examining table in the center of the room and resisted the urge to turn and look at his apprentice. He finally reached the table and leaned against it, deliberately, slowly undoing the fastenings of his own robes in a clear signal. “Come to me, Sidious,” he purred. 

The Force hesitated, then Sidious stepped forward, slinking across the short distance, every muscle tense with anticipation. “Kneel,” Plagueis growled when he reached the older Sith, and he did, sliding to his knees at the Munn’s booted feet, thin body shivering in the chilled air.

Plageuis grinned at the sight and pulled back his garments to reveal himself. “Touch me,” he ordered, infusing his command with dark purpose. Slowly the small, delicate hands stretched out and curled long fingers around his member, an unbearably light touch that evoked a low sigh from the master. Sidious moved deliberately, steadily, golden eyes drifting up to gaze at the Sith Lord as he worked, and the smoldering look made the Muun feel fifty standard years younger. 

“That’s it,” he hissed, noticing how Sidious’ own body was beginning to respond to the tension. The heat built in his emaciated belly, and he slowed his breathing. He was not done yet, and he pulled the smaller hands away. 

Plagueis drew his apprentice up along the length of his body, and Sidious stretched out against him, figure trembling with some undefinable emotion. Plagueis found he could wait no longer, and he gripped Sidious’ waist and spun him so that the apprentice sprawled facedown on the surface of the examining table. The Sith Master pinned him with his own weight and reached for the fragile wrists. He slipped the table’s restraints over the thin bones and pulled them taut until Sidious could longer move his arms or lift his torso from the table. 

Sidious had stiffened completely when the first cuff slid on, and now he tugged fruitlessly at his restraints. Plagueis used one booted foot to push his legs apart and trailed a long finger down the smooth back, over the ridge of his spine to the tops of his firm buttocks, and Sidious arched against the table. Plagueis sensed a pressure building in the Force and in his apprentice. He continued his relentless teasing, drifting his fingers lower and playing small circles around the tight orifice. Sidious released a muffled growl of frustration and tried to shift away, but Plagueis’ questing fingers only followed him.

The Muun knelt soundlessly behind him and rubbed at the tender skin just behind his smooth, small sac. His ministrations lit a fire in the young apprentice’s dark presence. Palpatine jerked at the touch. Plagueis grinned widely and nudged at his entrance with a long finger, never pushing in, just touching, applying insistent pressure. The moments streamed by in slow succession, his prey twisting and quivering with each gentle probe. 

Finally, he was rewarded with a low gasp from Sidious. 

He dropped his hands away and waited in silence. 

The resulting, throaty moan inflamed his own desire, and still he waited. Sidious pressed himself against the table, striving to achieve release, but he failed to find any friction. “Please, Master.” 

“Please what, my apprentice?” Plagueis chuckled, amused and very aroused at the flush that he could see spreading across his apprentice’s lean body. Quite attractive. “What could someone as cold as you need from anyone?”

“I need you, Master,” he choked out after a long pause. 

“How?”

“I don’t… I don’t know…” 

“Say it,” Plagueis hissed, teasing him with a feather touch once more. 

“In-inside me,” he panted. “Please.”

Plagueis rose and positioned himself behind the young human, gripping his hips with hands of durasteel. He let himself press against Sidious, advancing inside not even a centimeter, but he felt the other’s body seize up with raging tension. With agonizing slowness, he eased himself into Sidious, pausing only when he was fully sheathed. He heard the small groan of pain, and he could feel Palpatine’s frustration like it was his own as it blared across the Force. The Dark Side swirled around their joined bodies. 

He remained still, enjoying the way the young human’s warm passage flexed around him, seeking friction and failing to find it. Sidious growled a wordless sound and tried to thrust back against him, but the restraints held him in place. Plagueis chuckled. “I am inside you now. You got what you wanted, and still you are not satisfied? Did I truly choose such a desperate apprentice?” 

“Move,” Sidious insisted, his muscles clenching against the invasion of his body. 

It was difficult, but Plagueis remained perfectly still. “Move, what?”

“Move, Master…”

He jerked his hips forward and felt Palpatine’s core shudder in helpless agony around his wide girth. “Like that?” he smiled darkly. 

“Yessss…” Sidious hissed. “More…” 

Plagueis pulled out almost completely and watched as Sidious’ thin body pressed trembling to the table. Palpatine was close to losing his control, he was sure of it now. He suddenly lunged back in, and the short yelp that erupted from the human beneath him sent his bloodlust rocketing. Plagueis began a rough rhythm, pushing in fast, holding, pulling out harshly, holding. He played Sidious’ nerves like a fine-tuned instrument, until the apprentice’s skin was covered in a thin sheen of sweat from his efforts to stay fully aware. 

The air hosted several small, bitten-off gasps of pleasure, but Plagueis wanted screams, wild abandon. “Don’t be afraid of your passion, my Apprentice,” he whispered. “Sith are never afraid to feel the heights of desire.” He reached under his apprentice and seized his hard member and began to rub the tip.

“St-stopppp…ah…ah..” Sidious’ protests dissolved into soft moans that slowly grew louder with each rough tug and thrust. His tip began leaking, and Plagueis swept his fingers through the gathering white liquid and pulled them up to the human’s mouth, forcing two of them between the thin lips and making him taste himself. Sidious snarled. 

The tangible hatred and resulting vibrations proved too much to handle, and Plagueis felt himself spilling over into the tight young body beneath. He sensed then that Sidious would not come on his own, and so he released a small current of his power into his apprentice’s abdomen. The internal muscles around him contracted wildly as though attempting to milk him of every last drop. Sidious’ own member released its load against the table, and the younger Sith bit back a harsh cry. Plagueis slid out of him, limp and satisfied, and watched the excess evidence of his pleasure trickle from the human’s abused entrance. 

He could also feel the underlying shame that oozed from Sidious as he lay, still helpless and vulnerable in the restraints, silently riding out his own orgasm and refusing to give his master the pleasure of seeing him openly revel in the dark ecstasy. Displeased and yet impressed with his fortitude, Plagueis decided to leave him there for a time. A few hours, perhaps another taking, and he might think twice about denying his master what he wanted to see. 

He straightened his robes and swept from the room without a second glance back.


	5. Forsaken by the Force

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Plagueis realizes that extreme measures must be taken to teach his apprentice his lessons.

Plagueis found out, both to his amusement and frustration, that his apprentice would not break to his own hand. Some part of the Master-Apprentice bond and its natural intimacy had the young human convinced that this was only part of his training, that ultimately he had nothing to fear in the end. Plagueis vowed to strip Sidious of the notion, and his opportunity came two standard weeks later. 

On a training mission to an insignificant backwater planet, Plagueis and Sidious had returned to their seedy hotel on the outskirts of the trading center. The crowded city was filled to overflowing with masses of poor and those of ill-repute, including local gang clans and traveling pirates. Plagueis led his apprentice down to the bar, explaining that their business contact would be along directly and the Sith Lords would need to blend into the surroundings. 

What he didn’t tell Sidious was the fact that his drink had been carefully prepared by Plagueis himself, a potent mix of alcohol, elements of the death stick hallucinogen, and Plagueis’ own knowledge of arcane Sith powers. The result was a drug that aggressively reduced the victim’s ability to draw on the Force. Plagueis chuckled to think of Sidious’ academic efforts to overcome similar situations. Perhaps someday, he would find a way over this as well. 

Not tonight. 

He moved subtly away from his young apprentice and observed the room, searching for his target of opportunity. He found three, pirates who had come into the establishment only an hour earlier, their pockets fat with profits and their appetites yet unsated. A tall Weequay, a powerfully built dark-haired human, and a battle-scarred green-skinned Twi’lek, all males and all without inhibitions, Plagueis knew at a glance. 

He looked back at Sidious. The young human waited faithfully at the bar, eyes bright with the unexpected beginnings of the drug’s effects. Palpatine was yet unaware of it, but he hunched lower in his chair and pulled his dark robes close around his thin figure. Clearly, his high birth and noble background had not endeared this type of environment to him. Plagueis could sense his distaste from across the room. 

Plagueis soaked in the base decadence of the barroom, and then stretched out with a sliver of the Dark Side, catching the attention of the human pirate and directing his eyes across the hazy room to land on Sidious. Plagueis watched, pleased, as the man boldly raked his gaze over the shrouded body and the slender fingers curled around the stem of the glass. The human nudged his companions and pointed, and all three laughed together, a dark sound. 

The Twi’lek suggested something in a low whisper, and though Plagueis could not hear it over the buzz of the room’s occupants, he understood the gist. Shielding his presence from his apprentice, Plagueis stood and made his way over to the three pirates, sitting next to them and causally crossing his legs at the knees. 

The Weequay stared at him suspiciously. “There’s plenty of room elsewhere, friend.” 

Plagueis adjusted the vocoder in his concealing breathing mask disguise. Only the gleam of his eyes could be seen under the cloak. “Plenty of room, perhaps, but the entertainment seems a bit thin, wouldn’t you agree?” He kept his tones neutrally friendly, as though he commiserated with them. 

The human laughed, fixing his large dark eyes on their tall visitor. He was also under the influence of some drug, Plagueis noticed. Good. “Entertainment? This far out in the middle of nowhere? Hah! You must be new to this sector.”

“I am,” Plagueis admitted. “My companion and I are merely passing through,” he inclined his head toward Sidious, and all three pirates straightened with blatant interest. 

The Twi’lek grinned at his shoulder. “We were just admiring your friend, actually. Delicate little piece of work, ain’t he?”

“He’s stronger than you might think,” Plagueis told him. “If you get my meaning.”

They stared until the human roared a laugh and stroked the rough stubble on his chin. “Well, that beats all. We’re a bit hard up for entertainment ourselves. You his solicitor or something?” 

“You mean, is he a whore?” Plagueis asked, watching as their eyes fixed on his oblivious apprentice across the smoke-filled room. “No, nothing so crude as that. He’s a young noble in my charge since his family passed on. I’ve been meaning to introduce him to a wider world. He’s rather sheltered, you know,” he waved his hand in a deliberately crude gesture. “Very talented though. A quick learner.” 

The Weequay grinned, clearly doubting the backstory but undeterred. “Of course. Is he exclusive, friend?” 

Plagueis appraised him thoughtfully, drawing out his response. “In the interests of expanding his horizons, I might be willing to consider an… arrangement, if you are.” 

The Twi’lek’s lekkus began to twitch at the ends with his excitement. “I can definitely expand his horizons, among other things.” They all laughed together with aggressive promise. Plagueis knew then that these men would do nicely. 

“What do you have to offer?” he asked, not really caring but putting up with the pretense. “He’s worth a lot to me.” 

The human licked his lips as he stared at Sidious. “Three bars of aurodium, clear and pure as they get, untraceable by the way we got them. Worth almost 30,000 credits. Would that do?” 

“For that amount, you can do anything you want with him,” Plagueis nodded, and the bars appeared on the counter. The human slid them into his waiting hand. “He’ll not come quietly unless you say the right thing. He’s waiting for what he thinks is a business contact. When you approach, say that you are seeking a class-4 freighter from Saleucami.” 

“And he’ll follow us?” the Twi’lek smirked. 

“I would advise that two of you join in once you reach your destination.” He handed them a room’s id card. “He’s a cautious individual, and he can be a handful,” Plagueis cautioned. “Don’t underestimate his strength, and don’t bring me into it, if you really want to enjoy him. His name is Palpatine. Use it only at the right time.”

All three laughed at the idea, and Plagueis moved away from them, deeper into the shadows. He watched curiously as the human approached Sidious, almost swaggering. The exchange was low and quick; Sidious glanced around the room for his master, but Plagueis carefully shielded himself. Finally, Sidious nodded and rose to follow the human out of the room. The other two pirates waited until the pair left, then scraped back their chairs and followed. 

Plagueis swiftly moved to his planned position, the room adjacent to the one he had given the pirates. It was a special room, reserved for those with unique tastes, with a one-way audio and visual mirror into the adjoining room. He gathered his robes and sank into the plush chair before the wide expanse and waited. 

He did not wait long. The door on the far side creaked open, and the muscular human stepped in, the automatic lights instantly responding to his presence. Behind him, Sidious cautiously took in the room’s décor. “Make yourself at home, luv,” the older man laughed, and Sidious’ face pinched with rabid anger before smoothing into indifference. 

“Your contact is late,” he said, voice silk-smooth. “Our time is not unlimited, Lindi.” 

Plagueis took note of the name, wondered if the pirate had many such pseudonyms. Lindi walked over to the bar and took the tall decanter and a glass. “Relax, Palpatine.” 

Sidious stiffened. Evidently, this was the first time Lindi had used his name. “Why are you calling me that?” 

“Come on,” Lindi laughed. “Don’t play innocent. We know who you are, what you are.” He settled into the couch and patted the seat next to him. “Have a seat. Have a drink.” 

“I prefer to stand,” Sidious said quietly. 

A new voice spoke from the door frame. “And I’d prefer to get a closer look at you.” The Twi’lek hovered in the entry, the Weequay leering behind him. The two pirates stumbled into the room and palmed the door shut behind them, the Weequay locking it with the id card. Plagueis watched Sidious suddenly tense and reach for the Force. 

The surprise and dismay that flickered across his narrow features when it did not respond was delicious to observe. Sidious was well-trained, covering his apprehension and confusion even as he turned to face the newcomers. “I think perhaps a different time would be better to meet. I’ll let my contact know…”

The Twi’lek sauntered up to him and stared down hungrily. “Why don’t you let me be your contact, little human? I know lots of ways to… communicate.” 

Sidious stepped back, but only brushed up against the Weequay who had moved silently in behind him. The Weequay laid a hand on his shoulder, and he shook it off indignantly. “I don’t think so. If you would be so kind to not touch me - ”

“Come on, Palpatine,” the human called from his place on the couch. “We could all use a little rest and relaxation.” 

“And that closer look,” the Twi’lek purred, stretching out both hands to grip the young human’s high collar. “Without all these pretty robes in the way.” 

Sidious brought his own hands up and shoved the Twi’lek away, his face showing true and vulnerable anger. “I said don’t touch me!” 

“Ooh, feisty,” the Twi’lek grinned. “I like em that way. Makes it all the sweeter when they’re calling out my name. We paid good money for a little romp with you, boy. By the way, I’m Tram, and that dusty Weequay back there is Radnok. Remember that, little human. Don’t get us confused.” 

“I’m hoping to get him so confused that he won’t know which way is up,” Radnok chortled. 

Lindi grinned and took a swig of the alcohol. “You’re a fighter, Palpatine, I can tell, but we are too. You don’t want to make us angry, believe me. So come on, come sit by me and have a drink, and we’ll get to know each other the easy way. We can make this fun for you.” 

“I think I need to leave,” Sidious told him, voice cold as ice, and he moved swiftly for the door. Plagueis watched, fascinated, as the Weequay caught him by the arm and spun him back into the room. Sidious lashed out with a fist, but without the Force at his side, the much bigger male easily caught his wrist and held him in place.

Lindi laughed and called out, “I guess you like it the hard way, then. Radnok, hold him steady. Tram, help our guest get comfortable.” 

The Twi’lek grinned as the Weequay readjusted his grip on the struggling human so that he held both arms in a strong lock behind his back. Tram approached and narrowly avoided a powerful kick from one of Sidious’ booted feet. He tssskked in a playfully disappointed way and produced a long and jagged knife. The sight of the gleaming blade stilled Plagueis’ apprentice. 

“That’s better. You’re a smart one for being highborn,” Tram told him, stepping closer and seizing the collar of his tunic. The blade slipped underneath and sliced cleanly down the front, and Tram peeled the ruined cloth away, exposing the narrow and pale chest beneath, the visibly defined abdominal muscles, and the trail of fine ginger hairs leading below the beltline. Lindi whistled appreciatively from his vantage point on the couch, alcohol forgotten. 

Tram held the knife to his throat while the Weequay roughly pushed the ruined tunic down over the pale, shivering shoulders to puddle at his feet. “Cold?” he asked, smiling. “We’ll warm you up all over soon enough.” 

“Let me go,” Sidious hissed. 

“I don’t think so,” Tram chuckled, and now that Radnok had his arms again, he dropped the blade to the band of the young human’s trousers. “Sorry about that,” he exclaimed loudly as the edge cut cleanly through. “Looks like you’re out a pair.” His fingers teased under the loose band. 

Radnok brushed one hand against the nape of the human’s neck, evoking a shudder of protest. “That’ll be the least of his worries when we’re done with him, right little human?” 

“Worry about yourselves, fools,” Sidious snapped, and Tram slapped him gently. 

“None of that, now,” he squeezed him briefly over his trousers and turned to look at Lindi. “Well, boss, shall we have a look-see?” 

Lindi shrugged, but his eyes were bright with interest. “Might as well. Radnok, help him out.” 

Tram’s fingers curled around the cloth at the narrow hips, and Radnok lifted the young human at the same time that he ripped the trousers and undergarments down and off in one quick motion. Sidious snarled and tried to break free, and Radnok shoved him forward to the floor, tumbling him off balance. 

Sidious rolled into a defensive crouch, eying the two pirates with loathing and a hint of uncertainty. Tram roared with delighted laughter. “Well, well, well, that’s quite a nice deal we got. He’s so smooth looking, so fresh.” 

Radnok licked his lips and leered down at their prey. “We have a lot to teach you, little human.”

The apprentice’s hands hovered between self-defense and covering himself, but Lindi only laughed from his place on the couch behind. “You don’t have anything we haven’t seen before, boy. But I’ve got to admit, that arse of yours is a fair piece of work.” 

Sidious lunged for the door, moving faster than seemed humanly possible, but the Twi’lek pirate had years of sharp reflexes honed by deadly adventure. He anticipated the human’s trajectory and stepped in, snagging him by his waist and tugging him close. The youth Sith twisted in his grasp and savagely bit him on his left lekku, sharp teeth sinking into the tender flesh. One more scar among dozens, but a Twi’lek’s lekkus were a highly sensitized area.

“Ooow!” Tram screamed and let him go, and he pivoted and made it to the entrance. He tugged on the door, pushed at the panel, and the door remained sealed. Lindi roared with laughter on the couch. 

“Won’t do you any good,” he chortled. “Radnok, bring him over here, will ya?”

Plagueis could sense true panic beginning to seep into his apprentice as he desperately attempted to summon the Dark Side to his aide, and it continued to evade him. His pale body trembled with rage and fear as Radnok slowly approached. He must have suspected by now that his drink had been poisoned, but there was precious little he could do about it with three dangerous enemies in the room. 

Radnok finally reached him, and his massive hands closed around the human’s wrists, yanking him out into the main chamber. Sidious tried to let his weight carry him forward and tackle the Weequay, but Radnok was too experienced. He let Sidious get close and then stepped back, sending him to the floor with a powerful shove. The blow knocked the breath out of him, and he lay panting on his back for a few seconds, disoriented by the loss of the Force. 

Too long. The Twi’lek had recovered and now joined Radnok in staring down, eyes bright with both anger and fired lust, lekku still bleeding. “You’ll answer for that one, kid.” The two pirates exchanged glances, a single idea, and then Radnok was seizing his wrists and Tram was gripping his boots. He tried to curl in on himself, but they lifted him easily and carried him to the couch. 

Lindi stood and made room, and they laid their captive down on his back across the wide seat. The cold leather made him flinch, and all three pirates grinned. “Not much of a talker, is he, Lindi?” Radnok asked, eyes traveling up and down the length of the young human’s shivering figure, fingers tickling playfully at the thin wrists under his grip. 

Lindi smirked, “Talker or not, we’ll have him singing for us before this is over. Right, Palpatine?” he asked, leaning over the youth and placing a muscular hand on the wiry chest. “Right?”

The hatred in those pale blue eyes nearly took his breath away. “Tram, Radnok, I think we’ve got a real gutkurr on our hands here. Find something to tie his hands. I don’t fancy those little claws coming anywhere near my eyes.” Tram fished through his travel pack before finding some leather cording, which he wrapped multiple times around and between the thin wrists and then secured the end to the edge of the heavy seat. 

The three pirates stepped back to admire their work. Sidious half lay, half sat on the couch, bound hands drawn to his chest, legs curled up in front of him. He had perhaps half a meter of cord in which to maneuver, which was truly very little. Plagueis ignored his own arousal at the sight. This was not for his pleasure, but for Sidious’ training. Would his apprentice be strong enough to endure? 

Tram broke the heavy silence at last. “He’s kriffin’ perfect, Lindi. He’s so small, and I bet you a thousand credits he’ll be tight as a stodgenut’s nesthole.” Sidious’s face flamed red. 

Lindi scoffed. “I’d be a fool to take that bet, Tram. We’re going to take our time with this one.” 

“Lots of time,” Radnok breathed, reaching out a meaty hand and tracing his claws down Sidious’s left shoulder and onto his side. He continued down the line of one leg until he got to the ankle and pulled insistently at it. “Show us what you’ve got for us, little human. Don’t be shy now.” 

Tram laughed, and took hold of the other ankle over the boot. “Ah, he’s shy, all right! But he won’t know the meaning of that word once we’re through.” He pulled the leg straighter and leered down. “We’re gonna turn you into a wanton little slut, Palpatine. You’re gonna be begging us for more.” They pulled him fully onto his back, tugging his legs straight. He tried to jerk free and failed, the cords cutting into his wrists. 

Lindi approached and perched on the edge of the seat at his side, placing a calloused hand on his sunken cheek and caressing him gently. Sidious froze in place as the broad fingers swirled and played down his neck and through the sparse hair of his chest, twisting only enough to sting before drifting lower. “Now see here, friend, this can either be pleasant for all of us,” and he began to rub the wiry abdominal muscles, sliding lower and lower, “Or…” and the hand drifted up to a small nipple and roughly squeezed, tearing a startled gasp from the younger human, “it can be pleasant for just us. Your call.”


	6. Trials of the Flesh

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Plagueis watches Sidious face the greatest trial of his Sith apprenticeship yet. Will he survive?

“I can offer credits,” Sidious finally replied in a low tone, his face flushing with scalding embarrassment. To his credit, he did not look afraid. “Whatever you want, I can help you get it.” 

Plagueis heard the bargaining and sighed in the privacy of his viewing room. His apprentice did not truly understand the unique nature of some of the galaxy’s beings. He would soon. 

Tram pulled his legs slightly apart and grinned. “There’s not enough money in the galaxy to save that sweet arse of yours, little human. And what we want? I think that’s pretty obvious. First I want to see what you’ve got down here.” Radnok laughed and trailed his claws up onto the human’s left thigh, pinching along the inner edge and receiving a low growl in response. Panicking, Sidious struggled to close his legs, and Tram grunted with his effort. 

Lindi scowled and slapped their captive across the side of his face. “None of that,” the grizzled human pirate snapped. “We’re being nice, and you need to be a little more accommodating.” He grabbed Sidious by the hips and pulled him further down the couch until his arms were pulled taut over his head and the cords were biting deep into his wrists. “Open ‘em,” he commanded, voice husky with desire. 

Sidious glared back in silent refusal and was slapped again for his clear defiance, this one leaving a red mark high on his cheek. Lindi looked almost impressed. “I’ll give you one more chance. Open your legs, or we’ll do it for you, and you won’t like it.” His words seemed to fall on deaf ears, and he nodded to the others. Radnok and Tram each gripped one of the slender legs and yanked hard. Without the Force, Sidious could not long resist, and soon he was spread helplessly on the couch. 

Lindi stood and moved around to sit at the end of the couch, putting one of his large knees between the trembling legs and shoving forward hard. Sidious hissed with the sharp, compressing pain and tried to slide up the couch and away from his tormentor, but the two other pirates held him down firmly. Lindi increased the pressure until involuntary tears watered the younger human’s eyes, then he withdrew, leaving Palpatine gasping for air. 

“It’s a sensitive spot, you might have noticed,” Lindi told him, patting his knee. “We’ll make you feel really good, but you try our patience, and bad things could happen, get it?” 

Plagueis’s apprentice offered a shaky nod. Lindi grinned triumphantly and moved his hand up the younger man’s knee, across his thigh, fingers tickling along the base of his sensitive shaft. Sidious flinched at the feather touch. Lindi stilled his hand and leaned closer. “Now, a few ground rules. We’re in charge, and you do what we want. You suck when we say, you lick when we say, and you fuck when we say. Do that, and you’ll be in one piece when this is over.” 

Tram leaned close to the human’s mouth. “You’re ours, human, entirely ours. Your little mouth is ours,” and he sealed his full lips over the thin ones, forcing the jaws open with his fingers and slipping his tongue inside. Sidious fought him but couldn’t overpower the stronger male, and his mouth was thoroughly plundered by the pirate. Tram finally withdrew, both gasping for air. “Stars,” Tram hissed with half-drunken pleasure. 

Radnok had watched with fascination, and now he leaned in with a wide grin. “Your cock is ours too.” His rough hand closed around the small shaft and tugged abruptly. Sidious’s eyes widened with shock, but his body automatically responded, hardening under the strong fingers. Lindi grinned as he saw the lust brush against the pale eyes, mixing with the clear scorn and distress. 

“That’s it, Palpatine,” he encouraged. “You’re going to like this. Well now, Tram has your mouth, and Radnok has your cock. What does that leave me?” He did not leave the question rhetorical for long, his pointer finger probing gently up against the youth’s barrier muscles between his legs. Pulling at his wrists so hard that blood oozed down over the cords, Sidious struggled again to close his legs against the invasion. 

“Now now, I was going to take it easy, but you keep being difficult,” Lindi scowled, irritated, and thrust his finger forward, impaling the younger human and forcing a small cry from his lips. 

“No! Wait…” 

Tram grinned and pushed his own fingers into the gasping mouth, cutting off the words. Radnok jerked at his shaft, and Sidious cried out again, wordless. “Oh stars,” Radnok groaned, pulling at his own clothing. “I can’t wait much longer, Lindi.” 

Tram replaced his fingers with his mouth, nipping relentlessly at the smaller lips, kissing them so harshly as to lend them a swollen look when he pulled away again. The Twi’lek shuddered and licked playfully at Sidious’s mouth. The human’s eyes were tightly shut, as though he were trying to ignore the three pirates. “Who gets him first?” 

Lindi added a second finger and pushed deeper, feeling the muscles around him contract in instinctive rebellion. He groaned at the feeling and felt himself getting very hard. “I want him first, boys. He can suck you off, but I want to be the first in his tight little hole.” 

Tram and Radnok nodded, bowing to his leadership. “Should be plenty for everyone,” Radnok shrugged and roughly twisted the skin under his grip, evoking a soft whine. Sidious’s back arched up from the couch as Lindi withdrew and pushed in his fingers again. 

“Ah, he likes that!” Tram laughed. “He’ll like a cock a lot more. Is he ready yet?” 

Lindi ran his other hand over his own leaking tip under his clothes and leered, “Well, I don’t know, but I am. Get him ready, boys.” He withdrew his fingers from the tense, shivering warmth and stood to undo his own trousers. 

Sidious cracked opened his eyes and saw the preparation, and he renewed his struggles, but Radnok and Tram seized him and pulled him from the couch, turning him over and laying him across the thick arm where the leather cord was secured, trapping his hands under him. Lindi freed himself and approached from behind, watching the young human strain as the others pressed him against the freshly cool leather. 

“Wait, wait…” the youth begged. “Wait, we can still negotiate for what you want.”

“What I want is already here,” Lindi growled, reaching out to grip the slender hips and lining his girth up against the small entrance. “Right here between your legs, Palpatine. I want your delicious little body.” He didn’t wait for a response, pushing forward and forcing his way into the warm channel. 

The human tensed around him but made no sound except for a small gasp when the pirate buried himself to the balls. Lindi sighed and grinned at the other two pirates. “He’s as tight as we thought. Tighter maybe.” He stayed where he was, impaling Sidious and letting himself grow harder in the process. Sidious could not move with his hands pinned under him and Radnok’s powerful grip on his shoulders. Plagueis watched the gleam of helpless hatred in his gold-flecked eyes. 

Lindi began a slow thrusting pattern, growling at the resistance he felt, reaching forward under the narrow hips and clasping the smaller shaft, pulling at it, milking it with each push forward. Sidious moaned softly, and Radnok began groping him along his chest and neck, tweaking his nipples and snapping at his shoulders with his sharp teeth. Chuckling, Tram began working on freeing himself from his own clothing. 

“Uugghh,” Lindi groaned as he came in the small orifice, filling Sidious. Then he pulled out and staggered back completely satisfied, and now Tram was moving forward and gripping the bruised hips, lining up his longer shaft and sliding in with ease due to the natural leftover lubrication. Sidious grunted with pain as the Twi’lek bottomed out in him, brutally going deeper than Lindi could have ever hoped. 

“Ah, man,” Tram hissed. “This is something else again!” He leaned over the young human’s back and whispered into his ear, “You like this, little slut? You like me in you? I’ll show you what a real man feels like when he’s fucking you.” 

Sidious snarled when the pirate launched forward, and Tram laughed. 

“Told you he’d beg for my cock,” he looked at the other two, and they laughed with him. Tram slid in again, harder, and Sidious’ body jerked forward. Tram shifted, the tip swelling in the Twi’lek way. One more push and he knotted inside, trapping himself in the human. Sidious panicked at the feeling and struggled to throw the Twi’lek off, but Tram only spilled his seed. 

They stayed like that for several minutes, joined at the hips while Lindi looked on with a glass of alcohol and Radnok devoured their captive’s mouth with his own. Sidious winced as the Twi’lek seized his shaft and roughly pulled him into a silent orgasm. His teeth clenched against the moan that threatened to slip out, and then Radnok’s tongue was forcing him open. 

When finally Tram broke free, Radnok was desperate, and he wasted no time in freeing himself from his dirty clothing. Sidious was limp and boneless with the afterglow of his forced pleasure, body lolling over the arm of the couch, and impatiently the Weequay grabbed him around his waist and pulled him to the floor. Startled, Sidious tried to move away, but Radnok forced him to straddle his lap and then pushed him down hard onto his stiff barbed member. 

Sidious yelped, a raw and wounded sound as the barbs cut into his flesh when he tried to lift himself off. Trembling, he sank back down onto Radnok and tried to still his movements. Radnok chortled and ran his large hands down over the narrow chest as he thrust up. 

Lindi and Tram laughed, and Tram leaned in close to the trembling young human and licked the cold skin of his cheek. “We’re enjoying watching you ride old Radnok. Look there, you’re blushing like a virgin!”

Lindi smiled. “He’s far from virginal now, Tram. He’s a used little whore.” 

“We’ve been taking turns,” the Twi'lek nodded thoughtfully, “Now maybe we can share. Look at that delightful little mouth. I think it will be perfect.” 

And as they filled both orifices with their flesh and Sidious gagged and struggled for air, in the next room Plagueis reached out to the Force and felt the Dark Side in turmoil, in distress. He wondered briefly at the wisdom of his actions tonight but forced the thoughts away. If Sidious were to be his true apprentice, then nothing would be enough to finish him. This was a true test for him, because here his power had been completely stripped away. He was nothing but a puppet for these pirates, helplessly used.

He watched them do it, over and over, fascinated in spite of himself. First Lindi, then Tram, and last Radnok. Sidious lay unresisting at this point, eyes closed and breath coming in harsh sobs of impotent rage. The cycle started again in mere minutes as the pirates recovered their strength. Plagueis suspected aphrodisiacs in the drinks they were nursing between turns. 

The pirates found a new interest in playing with his body, putting him onto the floor, bringing him to orgasm multiple times by mercilessly toying with his member. The hour stretched into two, then three. Plagueis could feel his apprentice’s resigned hatred even through the suppressants of the Force, and he knew the time for testing was close at hand. 

The time came when Lindi pulled Sidious’ exhausted body to his knees and forced his thick shaft into Palpatine’s mouth again. The apprentice gagged reflexively and received a hard slap in return. “Careful with your teeth,” Lindi snapped. Sidious sighed, eyes drifting shut and complying, hands slowly rising to balance himself against the older human’s hips. 

Plagueis rose from his chair and departed the darkened room, making his way down the hallway until he stood before the entrance. He could hear the muffled groans, the shout of Lindi’s climax, the retching of his apprentice as he threw up the contents in his throat, the cold laughter of the pirates. Plagueis palmed the code panel, and the doors slid open silently. 

He stepped into the warm room, and Sidious was the first to see him. His apprentice lay naked on the floor, bloodied mouth leaking with the seed of the pirate who stood over him proudly. The pale eyes were haunted and darker than Plagueis had ever seen, as if some light had gone out behind. The young human made no effort to rise. Plagueis struggled to keep his own expression perfectly blank. He was doing this for Sidious; he would see if he only passed the test. 

Tram was the second to notice, and he waved a glass of alcohol from the couch where he lay sprawled against a snoring Radnok. “Come in, friend, join the party!”

Lindi turned abruptly, and his eyes were not nearly so friendly. “What’re you doing here?” he asked slowly, still standing over the younger Sith as though he were staking a claim on the broken body. 

“I came to see if my fears had been realized,” Plagueis intoned quietly, directing his words straight to his apprentice and no other. Lindi backed away. 

Sidious lifted his head wearily at last. His eyes flickered with some desperate emotion. “Master, please, stop this…this madness.” 

Plagueis took a deep breath and knelt by his fallen apprentice. Lindi continued to back away cautiously, hand drifting to his ever present blaster. The Muun lord draped a hand lovingly over the bruised shoulders. “I can no more help you than you can, my apprentice,” he murmured. “This was a test, and I do not know if you have passed. You are weak, broken. If you cannot free yourself, then no one can.”

Sidious’ eyes squinted against a wave of pain in his core and he gasped, “Master, I can feel the Force, but it won’t respond to me. It is gone! What is happening?”

“I told you once that you rely too much on assistance from the Force, from summoning it,” Plagueis whispered. “When you should command it instead and use the power already within you. A true Sith lets nothing stand in his way to the path towards power. You know this. If you let these men stop you, then you are not worthy of the mantle of the Sith Lords.”

“Hey,” Tram called, “What’s going on here?”

Plagueis barely heard him. He had ears only for the sudden rasping in Sidious’s breath, eyes for the blaze of yellow fire that seared him with the force of a wildfire. “No, Master!” Sidious hissed, desolate despair seeping into his rough voice. “No! I am worthy!” 

Plagueis took a calculated step back. “No, you are weak, my former apprentice. These men know who you are. Your identity is now worthless to me and the future of the Grand Plan. This then, is where I leave you. My search will continue without you.” 

The torn and quivering black hole at his feet hovered on the fiery edge of Chaos. The Force itself trembled at the seemingly horrendous betrayal. “No, no, no…” Sidious was gasping as though the oxygen were bleeding from the room, one hand clenched so tightly that blood dripped from the cuts his nails made. 

Plagueis looked down coldly, though it took all his strength to say the words, “You might have changed the fate of the galaxy, Lord Sidious, but it seems you are destined to die powerless in this forgotten hovel.” 

Darth Plagueis stepped from the room and forced the door closed with the Dark Side, impatient and apprehensive. If the boy failed, if he gave in, so much wasted talent and opportunity… They would have indeed changed the fabric of reality itself, explored the realms of the Force and brought life and death to all deserving of it. The room lay in complete silence behind him. He took a ragged breath and prepared himself to lose it all…

Something felt…off. Out of balance. Plagueis paused. 

Beyond the closed doors, Tram shouted, “What are you doing, you little -?!” And then he screamed, a high horrible cry that ended abruptly with a muffled explosion. Plagueis choked as the Dark Side surged over him and through him, but it did not stop with him, passing beyond and tearing his own Force energy away. He staggered and stretched out a hand to stabilize against the wall, but even then he found he could not stand. 

He slid to his knees in the shadowy hall. The Dark Side came alive with a wordless sound, like a scream and a roar twisting into a waterfall of death and decay. He gagged with the terrible beauty of it all, overwhelmed and sinking into the abyss. Beyond him, the room echoed with blaster shots, more screams, a hideous tearing, and Plagueis felt all his dark hopes spring to life again. 

His own rational mind threatened to shred free and join the endless flow of power and hate; his consciousness threatened to depart and leave him a gibbering idiot, and Plagueis barely held himself back from wanting to join the power that beckoned to him. And then, as suddenly as it began, it ended, the dark imploding into nothingness. 

Plagueis found himself bent almost double in the hall, gasping for air. He pushed to his feet and turned back to face the closed door, which now looked as though some massive explosion had thrust against it, bowing its surface outward. Smoke curled around the edges and oozed across the floor. He could hear the flicker of flames just inside, and he suppressed the urge to rush in, to see. 

He didn’t wait long, as the door suddenly collapsed and a spectral figure stumbled through, pale white skin bathed in the light of flickering flames and the dark slime of blood, unheeding of the sharp and twisted wreckage. The eyes glowed golden in the dim light, brighter and more wild than Plagueis could have ever imagined, and he held in a shiver. The Force itself stalked him, moving with shaky steps down the hall, one hand clenched around something gelatinous and slippery with viscous fluid.

Sidious, for it was he, did not drop to his knees in genuflection when he reached his master. He stood hunched and feral, teeth chattering and gore-slicked body shaking. His hand extended seemingly of its own accord, and the fingers unfolded to reveal a section of human entrails, torn and shredded and barely recognizable. Plagueis stared down at it. Sidious stared down too, but a faint smile passed his lips. “They don’t know my name anymore, Master… or anything else… they’ll never know, until it’s too late.” 

Then he fainted, going completely limp, and Plagueis reached out and caught the thin body before it plunged to the floor. He stared down in undisguised affection and knew then that the Grand Plan would finally become a reality for the Order of the Sith Lords. He carried his apprentice easily down the hall to their own original rooms, far from the chaos of the evening. A wave of his hand, and the cheap recorders in the hall exploded, their memories wiped in the electrical storm. 

The hotel was doomed anyway. Tomorrow, he and his apprentice would leave none alive to tell the tale. But tonight, Plagueis carried the broken figure with an unusual gentleness and reverence. Back in the room, he laid Sidious out on the guest bed and fetched a damp towel from the refresher unit. He used it to tenderly clean the blood and bodily fluids away while Sidious lay unaware of anything. 

His perfect, broken apprentice. Now the pieces would come together once more, and the result would defy the expectations of the universe. After cleaning him, Plagueis returned and lay at his side in the narrow bed, reaching out with the Dark Side and perusing the currents of the Force. Perhaps an hour passed, perhaps three, but at last the bruised and golden eyes opened and Sidious stared up at his master, saying nothing and conveying nothing. His presence in the Force was a calm lake of pitch. 

The Muun Sith leaned close and whispered, “You passed the test, my apprentice. You are worthy indeed to learn from me, to become the vessel of the Dark Side’s power.”

Sidious inhaled slowly, but otherwise made no other reaction. 

Plagueis studied the slender face, the vacant gaze that awaited additional violence, traced his long fingers down over the prominent nose, along the dark shadows under his eyes. This time, roughness would do nothing. His own needs would go unmet tonight. No, tonight called for finesse, for terrible kindness, and using merely his fingers, the palm of his hand, and the Dark Side of the Force, Plagueis brought his apprentice to shuddering completion. 

Sidious watched him the entire time, yellowed gaze unblinking until he closed his eyes and dropped onto his back in exhaustion. Plagueis let him slip from his grasp and pulled himself up alongside his apprentice on the narrow bed, where he took him into his arms in a bizarrely gentle embrace. He brushed his fingers idly through the matted ginger hair until he noticed a strange sound.

Was he crying? Plagueis felt stirrings of disgust at the thought of such weakness in his protégé, and he nearly thrust him away. But the sound registered at last, and Plagueis shivered instead. He was laughing, soft, unhinged snickers that shook his shoulders in irregular spasms. The Sith master could feel the Darkness gathering over them, the madness of Chaos itself, and he wondered if he had finally gone too far.


	7. High Hopes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Plagueis comes to an illuminating realization.

The results of his apprentice’s trial at the hands of the pirates pleased Plagueis, but not entirely. Sidious had given in at last to Plagueis’s demands, unresisting and compliant whenever Plagueis reached for him, in all appearances broken to the master’s touch. But he took no pleasure when Plagueis trailed his lips down his supple body, or when he caressed his intimate places. There was simply no reaction, like he was attempting to woo a droid. Even when Plagueis hurt him, and hurt him he did, he crawled away without a word to heal himself and lick his wounds in silence.

Sidious soon left Aborah, for the outside world called to the fledgling politician. Plagueis pondered the issue alone for nearly a fortnight until his apprentice returned from a mission with his Legislative Program on Chandrila. Perhaps the physical simply was not enough to satisfy his talented protégé. But Plagueis was his master, and it was his duty to teach Sidious every skill he would need for his successful career as a Dark Lord of the Sith. 

“Remove your clothing, Apprentice,” he told Sidious the day after his return. Sidious complied immediately, shedding layer after layer of fashionable Naboo robes until he knelt naked at his master’s feet, gaze trained on the floor. Plagueis stood from his chair and approached the younger Sith, eyes drinking in his thin form with appreciation. 

“Your skin reminds me of the alabace stones on Mygeeto,” he mused, “scoured a pure white by the winds along the cliffs. Indeed, much as you are being cleansed and completed through your training. The skills I teach you now may become extremely useful in your future, Sidious.” Plagueis rumbled a soft chuckle as he traced a hand over the human’s shoulders. “As a politician, some elections you will win through the power of your charisma, and others through the power of your mind.” He leaned close to his right ear. “Some you will win through your power to kill, and others through your power to seduce.” 

Sidious nodded slowly. “I understand, Master.”

Plagueis chuckled. “Maybe you do, maybe you don’t. Maybe you are only saying this to please me.” He returned to his high-backed chair and beckoned his apprentice close. Sidious came without protest, moving to stand at his side, and Plagueis watched the lean muscles shifting, feeling himself stir at the sight. He reached out and caught his apprentice’s arm. One judicious pull and the human stumbled ungainly onto his lap with a soft grunt of surprise. 

Plagueis roughly shifted him until he straddled the Muun, legs on either side of his own, the smooth back pressed against the master’s thin chest. He nipped lightly at the nape of Sidious’ neck and heard the other’s breath quicken. “Seduction is an art, Apprentice,” he whispered. “One must move cautiously, but with purpose.” 

He stretched up one hand and curled it around the fragile throat, stroking lightly. His other hand drifted down and took the soft flesh in a tight grip. Sidious opened his legs in instinctive response, and Plagueis smiled, pleased. “You are learning,” he licked the human’s left ear and felt him shivering. He began the slow rhythm, pumping slowly, purposefully, until the small shaft began to grow hard with the younger Sith’s pleasure. Sidious’ breathing increased in tempo with the gentle pulls and squeezes. 

Plagueis nodded. “You are adequate in the ways of providing pleasure with your body, my Apprentice, but you must learn not only to give pleasure but to take it as well. Do you believe some corpulent diplomat will spill his darkest secrets to you if you act as though he doesn’t exist?”

Sidious shook his head slowly, struggling to ignore the smooth friction of Plagueis’ palm against his sensitive skin. “Should I give no thought to my reputation, Master?” 

Plagueis stilled his hand. “The Senate is more corrupt than you can imagine in your naivety, Sidious. Countless of its esteemed members have slept and bartered their ways into its hallowed halls. You will not be the first or the last. Whether you use your talented tongue on the Senate Chamber or a Senator’s cock, well,” Plagueis smirked, “It matters little which. Ultimately, you must learn to use every weapon at your disposal for the furthering of the Grand Plan. You are an agent of the Dark Side. Take pleasure from that if not the physical act.”

“Of course, Master.” Still placating. 

Plagueis felt himself growing hard. He would test the boy’s resolve this time. “Up,” he grunted, and Sidious slid from his lap immediately, attempting to move away, but Plagueis caught his hand and pulled him close. “Prove your devotion to your destiny, Apprentice. Ride me, appease me, seduce me.” He parted his own garments and Sidious glanced down, expressionless. 

Impatient, Plagueis pulled him forward. “Face me,” he growled. Resignation flashed across the narrow face before it was replaced almost instantly by detached sexual interest. He was a fast learner, indeed. Sidious grasped his master’s shoulders and straddled him, lining up his entrance with the Muun’s stiff member and sliding down onto it with a low gasp. 

The heat of that primal sound sent new blood rushing into his nether regions, and Plagueis felt himself swelling. Sidious felt it too, his face contorting briefly with pain before smoothing out into studied indifference. He watched his master with half-closed eyes, nails digging into the older Sith’s robed shoulders. Plagueis realized that the physical act alone would never bring his apprentice to orgasm. He lusted after the ethereal power of the Dark Side instead. 

“Move,” Plagueis ordered sharply. “You’ll need to give your companions something to bleat about. And draw your pleasure from the Dark Side as you move. Consort with the wildness, take it into yourself…You are an animal, Sidious, crude and base in the currents of the Force.” 

Sidious obeyed the Muun, lifting himself up as high as he could, almost sliding off the thick shaft before slipping down again with a barely audible, breathy groan. His head tilted back, lips parting in soft irregular gasps for air. Fascinated, Plagueis reached out and pressed his thumb to those thin lips, pushing it into the small mouth. 

Sidious responded instinctively, closing his lips around the Muun, sucking lightly and swirling his tongue around the tip. Plagueis thrust upward involuntarily, and the apprentice jerked with the power of his motion. The Force hummed around their tense bodies, draped tendrils of pitch across their souls as Sidious tugged hungrily at the shadows and Plagueis trickled his own power into the arching body. 

The pleasure grew immense for Plagueis as Sidious writhed and twisted atop him. The Muun slid two more of his fingers into the human’s mouth and hooked them around the sharp white teeth, pulling his head low and catching the lips in a passionate kiss. Then he began to thrust as well, timing his upward advances to assault Sidious each time he lowered himself. The initial hard impact caught his apprentice by surprise, tearing a startled yelp from him that Plagueis swallowed in the kiss. 

But now Plagueis noticed with displeasure that Sidious was attempting to throw off the timing, doubting in his hesitance, trying to keep himself in hand, and he drove up again while grabbing the narrow hips and forcing them down. Sidious hissed. The master held him there firmly, stilling his own movements but letting himself continue to swell with anticipation. The growing pressure in Sidious made the apprentice moan, the sound ragged against his lips. 

Still, Plagueis held them both steady, unmoving, punishing the youth for his attempts to control the game, showing who was truly in control. Plagueis leaned in and caught Sidious’ lower lip between his teeth, biting gently and drawing a small trickle of blood. The sight excited him and he leered. “You’re a natural, Sidious. Your small body is perfect for my size, and you ride like you were born to it. I wonder how long I could keep you like this, ready, filled, desperate and refusing to admit it.” 

He glanced down, noticing how the human’s smaller member stood fully at attention now, brought up by his dark power and coarse words. He smiled. “Yes, you like it when I speak like this. You would never admit it, but your body betrays you, Apprentice. You’re no better than a whore, begging for it. What you feel now is little different from the way you will feel when the Dark Side accepts you completely and makes you its own.” 

He watched the golden eyes suddenly clear and blaze with an indignant hatred, but Sidious said nothing, staring steadily at his master and waiting. Around him, the apprentice’s body clenched as though trying to expel him from the tight channel. Plagueis thrust abruptly, and Sidious cried out, lifting up to escape the brutal assault. The Muun forced him down again. A thin trail of blood slid down, coating the master’s potent weapon, evoking a shiver of dark delight. 

Plagueis caught the human’s shaft in his long-fingered hand and twisted mercilessly, and Sidious whimpered and squeezed his eyes shut. Plagueis tapped him gently on his cheek with his other hand. “Look at me,” he ordered, and the pale yellow eyes snapped back open, fixing on him with a carefully constructed and blank expression. Plagueis wanted those eyes alive and helpless, and so he began to thrust again, harder. A fell light flickered in the wide eyes, a slithering heat that Sidious was slow to release, but it fired the blood of his master. 

The Sith Lord felt his own time nearing, and he sank himself deep into his apprentice seconds before coming hard, filling the human and coaxing Sidious into his own orgasm with a rough pull. Sidious’ eyes flared with indescribable emotion, and Plagueis felt then that he might be safer staring into the golden sphere of a sun. His apprentice’s eyes never left him, and Sidious’ coming was exquisitely understated, a small and quiet moan escaping his tightly pressed lips. A high flush covered his pale and sunken cheeks, and finally his head dropped back, exposing the thin tight arch of his fragile throat. His master traced his long fingers down that slender line with a low sigh. The sight before him would undo any politician, no matter how cynical or greedy. 

Plagueis felt himself going soft in his apprentice, and Sidious slid off, thighs sticky with blood and his master’s seed. He knelt naked on the floor before the Muun and whispered, voice raw, “Is that all you require, Master? Are you pleased?” 

Plagueis smirked down at him. “For now, it shall suffice.” 

His apprentice nodded, gathered his robes, and fled. There was no other way to describe it, Plagueis thought. Sidious had frightened himself with his own passion, but now that he had tasted the darkest part of the Force, he would never be able to turn back. 

Plagueis held his own expectations for the future. Where he had once planned to break the little human known as Palpatine to pieces and build up an indestructible Sidious, he now lingered in the exquisite dark innocence of his charge. This could be much more, he realized, and he surprised himself by how excited the thought made him. Palpatine was young and trainable, and he could be taught so many tricks in the ways of pleasure. 

“And why not?” he murmured to himself thoughtfully. “Passion is never forbidden to a Sith, passion without love.” Partnerships of this sort were not unheard of among the Sith Order, though rare due to the inherent vulnerability. He thought of the Rule of Two, of how he planned to abandon Bane’s efforts once Palpatine came of age as a true Sith Master, and he smiled. Entwined for eternity. 

“I look forward to completing your training,” he whispered to the empty room, but he knew that wherever Sidious had escaped, he would feel his master’s call. And at least in this sense, in this carnal celebration, he would remain the master of their fates. 

To be Continued in Other Tales


End file.
